Saturday, June 07, 2008

Fruit-n-Nut Ring

Back to our life in New Jersey... our landlord, a very old lady, lived right next to us. One afternoon she caught me at backyard, wanted me to go to a bakery to pick something nice as she had a group of friends coming over. No problem, but I really needed her input for what to choose. So she told me to get a big pastry or cake, which was in a ring shape, with fruit preserve. Sounded terrific! Then she handed me 4 dollors... huh?... I was thinking, I should get back home (hers or mine?) to take out more money, just in case... But she ensured me that's enough.

On the way to the bakery, I was nervous, rubbing the 4 singles (dollors), hoping that they'd multiply.

After I got in the bakery, I spotted the pastry ring right away. It's big although kind of flat, with big drops of strawberry preserve, lemon curd and blackberry preserve on top. Eye-candy!

The cashier ringed up ... 4 dollars (phew!). Half an hour later, I came back again, this time, for myself.

Today I am not going to re-create the same fruit ring, although my inspiration does come from that "fruit" and that "ring". The original is made with danish pastry, but I want to be laid-back, to taste something lighter. I go to Angie blog for sourcing. I am very confident that her recipes all are wonderful, especially something that she's done repeatedly, like this one, must be terrific.

Angie's coffee milk buns are a ture beauty! They rise very high, are very soft and fluffy as well. In order not to "kill" such a delicated texture, instead of placing (weighting down) the fillings on top, I place them between the buns.

You might have known that I like to proof bread's dough overnight; I usually would cut down the amount of yeast. In addition, my tube pan is larger than Angie's, so I'd like to re-write the recipe in the following.

Recipe of Fruit-n-Nut Ring

(the yeast proportion is based on proofing the dough overnight in fridge)

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 flours, sugar and salt. And add in oil and milk, knead the dough until elastic. The dough should be feeling slightly wet, but not sticky.

Grease a large bowl, place the dough in, cover with plastic wrap (pre-greased), proof the dough overnight in fridge.

Next morning, take the dough out and knead briefly. Divide it into 8 equal portions (in between working on the dough, you might need to cover it with tea towel and rest a bit, so the gluten can further relax which will ease your shaping).

Generously grease the tube pan allover with melted butter. Place the 8 doughs in. Cover with plastic wrap, let rise in 26C room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours or until double the volume.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Right before going into oven, drop some almond filling and fruit preseve between buns. Egg wash. Bake the bread for about 30 minutes. If the top burns too soon, place a piece of alumimun foil on top.

As soon as the pan isn't too hot to tough, unmold the bread. Best to consume on the same day, but stores well for another day.

Gattina,Delicious! Took me two times to perfect this. The almond filling and fruit preserve wasn't very cooperative my first round. I'll be sure to share this recipe with friends/families.Joseph from Louisville, Kentucky

Gattina, Gattina, Gattina - what are you doing to me?? I've already had my dinner and dessert, am exhausted after work and yet reading this post and seeing those pictures has made my tummy rumble and my fingers itch to bake something! This sort of exquisite torture is not fair, I tell you!